The Dawning of the Rest of our Lives
by Alianniae
Summary: After CGL and a lot of counciling, the DTend boys meet the acrossthestreet girls, a month and a half before they have to tackle high school. T for language.
1. Summer: Waterfight

1A/N: Well hello again…I was about to go to sleep last night and I got this idea. I know, I'm supposed to be rewriting my other story, whatever it was called I don't even remember, and writing my Fruits Basket fanfiction, but I can multitask. I think. Well anyway. My new story. This chapter is over 3,000 words long not counting the author notes. Hope you like. Please review.

Disclaimer: I don't own Holes. I don't own any songs that may or may not be played in this chapter. I do not own any stores in this chapter, any brands, any streets or schools or anything else that I cannot possibly own. If anything's familiar to you, outside of this fanfic, then I don't own it, and just because I write about it, please do not assume I do. Thank you.

The Dawning of the Rest of Our Lives

By Alianniae

Chapter One--Summer: Water-fight

The girl sighed, looking out her bedroom window. She was beautiful, surely, but in a natural way, as she was wearing sweat pants and an oversized tee shirt with no makeup, and yet she still would have surely caught the eye of many. She had blonde hair that was slowly turning brown, with natural red highlights throughout her hair. It was long, leading to about the middle of her back. Her eyes were big and blue, with dark brown eyebrows and eyelashes. Her skin was pale with a flushed look that always seemed to be there, with normal sized lips, the bottom slightly fuller than the top.

She was sitting on the window seat in her upstairs bedroom, looking down at her yard and the street in front of it. And then her eyes slowly drifted to the house across the street. She could see a pool from her view, and a large house with a fountain out front. The house made the people inside look rich, though anybody that lived in these houses had to have a fortune.

"Aimee! Can you get downstairs, please?" A male voice rose from the staircases and into her bedroom through the open door: her father.

The girl, Aimee, sighed once again and dropped the pillow she had been clutching to and walked out her door. She walked down the steps slowly, her feet digging deep into the carpet. When she got downstairs and walked into the kitchen, she was suddenly standing on hardwood flooring. Sitting in her kitchen was her father and his family, with her stepmother Mary and stepsister Ashlie.

It was always like this: Aimee was the outcast; the one who just didn't fit in with the family. She was quiet and lazy, liked to eat and didn't like sports, other than tennis and playing baseball every once in a while. She didn't do good in school, and she went to a public school, unlike her eleven-year-old sister who went to the best school in Texas and got straight A+'s. Fourteen-year-old Aimee was sporting, at the moment, an A in PE, an A+ in History, an F in GATE Algebra, an A+ in Band, where she played first flute and piccolo, a C in Advanced Physical Science, and a C- in GATE Language Arts. She had just graduated eighth grade, and was going to be entering High School in September.

"Yes?" She asked. The thing about Aimee was that she was nearly always polite, though she did have an attitude every once in a while and had a very short temper at such times.

"We're going to be having dinner with the family across the street tonight, and they have a boy that's about your age. He's bringing a few of his friends along too, why don't you call and ask if Ashley, Elisa, Kemella, Thuy, Lemo, Jennifer, and Krystle can come for dinner too?" Mary asked, smiling at her stepdaughter.

Though they had just moved in to their new house, they had actually moved closer to Aimee's best friends, Ashley, Elisa, Thuy, Jennifer, Kemella, Lemo, and Krystle. Though she did also have two other best friends, but they were guys and lived on the other side of town. Her other friends, however, lived quite close to her.

"Uhm...okay. What about Ash?" Aimee asked in response, nodding to her little sister.

"She's going home to her dad's in about…oh, we have to go. Dinner is at six tonight, wear something decent." Mary said as her and Ashlie rose and left the house. Ashlie's dad lived about three hours away, so Mary and Mark, her dad, met in the middle.

Aimee glanced at the clock, seeing that it was one-thirty. "Dad, can I ask if they can come over early?" She asked her father, knowing that he would say yes. He was more likely to say yes to her when his new family wasn't around, as Ashlie always thought that she got the short end of the stick on everything, though it was always Aimee who was stuck in the shadows.

"Yeah, that's fine. I'm going over to your uncle Jason's. I'll be back at four." Her dad said, grabbing his keys off the counter and heading out to the garage. She could hear him opening up the refrigerator and getting out something, most likely a Dr. Pepper, before leaving, closing the door behind him. The sound of the garage sent both their dogs off, barking like crazy until the next-door neighbor yelled at them to shut up.

Aimee sighed and grabbed the cordless phone, then headed back upstairs to her room. She continued to unpack, lugging the last of her heavy furniture up the stairs and into her bedroom, pushing everything around until she had things like she liked them. She set up her big desktop computer on her big desk, making sure everything was plugged in before turning it on, making sure the modem was working. They had called ahead of time to make sure Internet connection was hooked up in their new house, knowing that Aimee would probably die if she had no Internet connection for over a day.

As the big computer was loading up, she unpacked her laptop, putting it on her bed and plugging it in to charge. She turned that one on too, making sure the wireless Internet inside of it was working as well. After those were both set up and working, she unpacked her clothes and put them where they were supposed to be: some inside the walk-in closet, some in the drawers of her dresser. She hooked up lamps and her stereo system, putting the wireless surround sound speakers throughout the room. Then she opened up one of the last boxes and started to make her bed, putting the quilts her Nana had made her on with fleece sheets and a silk comforter. She dressed her pillows and set everything up on her bed, then emptied all but one box of stuffed animals and knick-knacks.

At last, she opened the last box of hers, and pulled out posters and pictures, along with about a million tacks. All around her entire room she set up her posters and pictures of movie stars, except for the wall over her bed. There, she put a pink mirror in the shape of a heart and all over that wall went actual pictures of her and her friends.

When she was done setting up her room, she glanced at the clock on her computer: three forty-five already! It had taken more than two hours to do her room, though that was really nothing, as it should have taken days! Aimee got onto her desktop computer, logging in to AOL Instant Messenger. Her buddy list popped up, showing her that eighty-three out of one hundred twelve people were online. She quickly searched the buddy list to find her friends and instant messaged them.

It had taken less than ten minutes for her closest friends to log off and get their way over to her house, and just before her dad got home, Aimee let her friends inside.

"Damn this house is _huge_!" Krystle said as she explored the new house, this being the first time any of them had been inside of it.

"Yeah! Damn girl I wanna see your room!" Lemo said, starting to follow Aimee up the stairs, the others slowly following her lead.

"Here it is…" Aimee said, reaching her room. Her friends all screamed and scattered, some jumping on the bed, but first making sure the laptop was safely on a shelf, the others running to look out the window.

"Hey! Four Amigas! Look, here we are!" Kemella said, pointing to one of the pictures over Aimee's bed. The Four Amigas, as she put it, were their group: Aimee, Kemella, Krystle, and Lemo, though Aimee had been the only eighth grader: the other three had been seventh graders. There were a few pictures with just the Four Amigas, but post held the entire group, or bits and pieces of it throughout the wall.

"Aww…look! A picture of Josh!" Ashley said, laughing and pointing to a picture of Aimee's ex-boyfriend, Josh, who they all took the time to make fun of.

"His name is not Josh! It's _Thing_! It's not a person!" Elisa complained as she went over to look at the picture.

"You guys are so mean to him." Aimee said, shaking her head. She seemed to drop her quietness around her friends, and it wasn't long before the entire group was laughing and screaming.

At five o'clock, Aimee looked at the clock and shrieked. "Oh my god! We have to get ready! Where's your clothes!" She said, and all the girls scattered. All of them ran downstairs, some into the dining room, where they said hello to Aimee's father, some into the garage, some into the living room, and some into random rooms throughout the house.

A few seconds later they all ran back upstairs again, each with a different colored backpack. They dumped all their clothes on Aimee's bed as she went through her closet, trying to find something to wear.

"Why did we agree to go to this thing?" Ashley asked, looking through her clothes and shaking her head at her later decisions.

"Because there's going to be _boys_ there, Ash!" Aimee yelled from inside her closet, looking for clothes still.

"Ooooh...boys…we like boys!" Lemo said, and her and Krystle erupted in laughter.

Thuy rolled her eyes at Elisa and they both started to giggle. Within the group, each person had a best friend, though they were all best friends with each other: Ashley and Aimee, Elisa and Thuy, Lemo and Krystle, and Kemella and Jennifer. Though Lemo was Aimee's true best friend, Ashley and Aimee had been best friends for so long they couldn't break apart. They all hung out together though, and overall were best friends with everybody. Except the new eighth graders, who were a year younger and attended a different school than the new freshmen.

Finally, after several people borrowed each others' clothes, everybody was happy with what they were wearing. As all of them were true California girls, all were wearing blue jeans that were tight to the skin, but not too tight, and was paired with a tee shirt. They all did their makeup, though all needed very little, and put on their tennis shoes. By then it was five fifty, and the family was meeting in the living room.

"Okay, ready?" Mary asked, looking at the girls with obvious approval and jealousy. Mary thought she was fat, but in truth she was really skinny, she just had a horrible fashion taste and bought clothes that made her look fatter.

"Yep!" The girls all said, and they all headed out the door across the street.

"Welcome!" A lady with brown hair, brown eyes, and a big smile said, ushering the girls and Aimee's dad and step-mom inside. She chatted with Aimee's father and stepmother as they made their way through the huge house, until they ended up in the dining room, where the lady, Mrs. Yelnats, showed all the girls where to sit.

The table was long, and was able to sit at least fifteen. The head of the table was left empty, as was the end, and Mrs. Yelnats sat the girls in this order: Kemella, Thuy, Aimee, Lemo, Krystle, Ashley, Elisa, and Jennifer was at the end.

Just as Mrs. Yelnats was counting the girls, Jennifer's cell phone went off. She sighed and looked at the number, then excused herself and went outside in the front yard.

"Yes, mother?" She asked into the phone.

"We need you home right now." Came the answer.

"But you said I could go with Aimee to dinner!" Jennifer protested. Her mother did this to her all the time, the one quality Jennifer hated of her mother's.

"Well something came up. Get home. Now." And Jennifer's mother hung up on her.

Jennifer angrily went back inside to find everybody still in the dining room. "I'm terribly sorry, Mrs. Yelnats, Mr. Rumsfield, Mrs. Rumsfield, and everyone…my mother says that something came up and I have to go home."

"No!" The girls all said loudly, for they had already been yelled at by Aimee's father not to yell. They all got up out of their seats to hug Jenn good-bye and led her out the door, not really noticing how rude they were being to the hostess.

The rest of the girls made their way back to the dining room and took their seats once more, leaving Elisa at the end this time.

A few minutes later, they were introduced to Mr. Yelnats, a man who looked older than his years, with graying brown hair and lively brown eyes. He smiled at the girls, and then called out, "Boys! Dinner!"

After that, it sounded like a whole herd of cattle was making it's way down the stairs and into the dining room. There were seven boys, all looked around fourteen or fifteen, and almost all looked to be taller than Aimee, though a couple were questionable.

"Boys! Why don't you sit in order as usual…starting here, not there, Rex!" Mrs. Yelnats said, putting the boys in their once Water Truck Line Order: X-Ray, Armpit, Squid, Zigzag, Magnet, Caveman, and then Zero. But they weren't introduced in those names.

"Okay, girls! This is Rex, Theodore, Alan, Ricky, Jose, my son, Stanley, and Hector at the end. Boys, these are the girls: Kemella, Thuy, Aimee is the girl that lives across the street, Lemo, Krystle, Ashley, and Elisa." Mrs. Yelnats said happily, seemingly convinced that they were going to break off in to couples and get married and have many, many children. But she was thinking too far ahead, obviously, as most of the girls were glaring at the guys, as most of the girls had boyfriends already.

"Thank you, Mrs. Yelnats. I'm sure we'll all get along fine." Aimee said plainly, staring at the boy who was sitting across from her. He was cute, with brown hair and brown eyes: rather plain looking, but something was drawing him to her, it seemed.

Eventually, all of them started to talk at some point throughout dinner and dessert, and all the adults got along fine. After dinner, the boys led the girls up to Stanley's room, which was huge and filled with some baseball player's things: signed baseballs, signed posters, pictures, baseball mitts and bats, everything imaginable. The girls sat down against a wall while the boys sat on the bed and floor.

"Now before we do anything, girls, you have to know us by our real names. Rex and Theodore and Alan just will not do. My name is X-Ray, that's Armpit, Squid, Zigzag, Magnet, Caveman, and Zero. Okay?" X-Ray said, pointing to the boys as he went along.

The girls looked confused but nodded anyway. Whatever the boys said.

"Good. Now lets play this game, I forgot what it's called, where someone asks a question with a yes or no answer, and everyone that says yes has to raise their hand, and then the person that asked has to pass the turn to someone else in the circle!" X-Ray said, smiling as everybody nodded at his suggestion. "Good. I'll start. Who here has a boyfriend or girlfriend?"

Ashley, Kemella, Lemo, and Thuy raised their hands. Aimee, Krystle, and Elisa, out of the girls, kept their hands down, staring at the boys across the floor. None of their hands were raised.

"Okay, I pass to…Aimee."

This went on for about an hour, before it was passed to Aimee once more.

She grinned before asking, "Who here wants to have a water fight right now?"

Everyone raised their hands, and she shouted "Then let's go!" before they all got up and ran out of the room, Caveman in the lead. They all ran down the stairs, the girls giggling and the boys eager to splash the girls with water. They all went out to the back yard, the parents cautiously following behind them, but staying inside.

"Wait wait wait wait wait!" Aimee said, just as the boys grabbed a hose and were about to turn it on. "It's not fair if it's all boys against all girls! I say we elect leaders who get to pick who's on their team, and I'm on of them!"

"Then I'm the other! Go ahead, Aimee, you can pick first." X-Ray said with a smirk, going up next to her.

"Yay! Uhm…okay…I pick…Squid." He looked to be one of the strongest there, and he went behind Aimee with a smirk on his face.

"I pick Armpit."

"Ashley."

"Kemella."

"Lemo."

"Thuy."

"Caveman."

"Magnet."

"Ziggy!"

"Damn you, Aimee! I pick Zero, then."

"Krystle."

"And I get Elisa."

The teams were picked in a matter of minutes, and ended up being: Aimee, Squid, Ashley, Lemo, Caveman, Zigzag, and Krystle. The other was X-Ray, Armpit, Kemella, Thuy, Magnet, Zero, and Elisa. Each team got a hose, and it started: water was everywhere and everyone was soaked. Aimee's team won though, as most of X-Ray's teammates ended up jumping in the pool to avoid getting hit by the steady stream of water from the other side, the others getting pushed in by the other team. Eventually, Aimee, Squid, Ashley, Lemo, Caveman, Zigzag, and Krystle stood on the edge of the pool, looking very happy that they'd won. But someone from the other team sneaked behind them and pushed them into the pool and then jumped in himself, causing the girls on Aimee's team to scream.

None of the girls were wearing white, luckily, so their shirts didn't turn see-through. But they were angry all the same, as jeans tended to become uncomfortable when they were wet and stuck to their skin.

It was midnight when the parents pulled the kids out of the pool, and the parents were still laughing at them. But unfortunately, the girls had to leave, so they bid their new friends goodbye, and Aimee gave all of them her AIM screen name and email address.

When the girls got back to Aimee's house, they all called their parents, who were furious, but they still agreed to let the girls stay the night. They all borrowed pajamas from Aimee and went to bed after taking showers, giggling late into the night.

At about five in the morning, Aimee was still awake, but the rest of her friends were asleep either on her bed or on the floor. She carefully got around her friends without waking them and grabbed her laptop, unplugging it. She crept out into the hallway and sat down on the stairs, leaning against the wall. She turned the computer on, and loaded AIM.

She hadn't first logged on before someone Instant Messaged her, someone not on her buddy list.

Them: Aimee?

Aimee: Who is this?

Them: This is the guys across the street..

Them: X-Ray, Squid, Armpit, Zigzag, Caveman, and Zero.

Aimee: Oh hey boys.

Boys: hey

Aimee: how are you?

Boys: good, how are you?

Aimee: good…I'm the only one awake though.

Boys: all of us are still awake.

Aimee: oh.

Boys: well, what are you guys doin tomorrow?

Aimee: idk..hanging out..maybe goin shopping or something

Boys: oh us too…you guys wanna come to the mall with us?

Aimee: sounds good to me…when everyone else wakes up I'll ask.

Boys: okay.

Aimee: well I g2g…stuff to do, you know.

Boys: oh ok.

Aimee: ttyl

Boys: ttyl

Aimee signed off, sighing slightly. She went back in to her room and put away her computer before slipping back into her bed beside Lemo and Ashley and falling asleep.

A/N: Hope you like. Please Review. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at Alianniae (at) gmail (dot) com. Or AIM me, Alianniae. Same S/N for YIM. Or just leave it in the review. Whatever. Next chapter will be out soon.


	2. Summer: Shopping and Crushes

1YAY! I'm excited. I got reviews. Only three, but hey, it's better than NONE.

Hannah: Aaaww thank you..yes, Aimee/Squid would be cute. But the only person who knows the couples so far is my best friend, who doesn't have internet that works long enough to check this anyway. Thanks for your review!

Squid Freak: Well thanks for your review, I will try to remember not to repeat myself! As for the grades thing..trust me, it's possible. Aimee is based completely off of me, and I was taking all advanced classes and completely failed math, and still graduated. I'm not sure how that worked either but it did! Thanks for your review.

D-Tent'sGirl101: Thanks for your review! Glad you like it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Holes. I don't own any songs that may or may not be played in this chapter. I do not own any stores in this chapter, any brands, any streets or schools or anything else that I cannot possibly own. If anything's familiar to you, outside of this fanfic, then I don't own it, and just because I write about it, please do not assume I do. Thank you.

The Dawning of the Rest of Our Lives

By Alianniae

Chapter Two--Summer: Shopping and Crushes

At ten in the morning, Aimee's alarm clock went off and everybody groaned, waking up. They all looked around with sleepy eyes, and Lemo snuggled deeper into the blankets of Aimee's bed and managed to fall back asleep.

The girls were all yawning as Aimee went over to look through the window at the house across the street. She grinned, seeing the window leading to Stanley's room was open and filled with boy's faces looking out. She shook her head and went over to her stereo, putting in Avril Lavigne's "Under my Skin" CD inside. She switched it to number eleven, "My Happy Ending," and turned up the volume.

It was a matter of seconds before everyone, even Lemo, was up, and they were all dancing around Aimee's room as they got dressed for the day. Then Aimee looked out her window to the driveway and seen no cars: they were all alone. She screamed and turned the volume up all the way and the girls danced downstairs into the living room, which was much bigger than her room.

"SO MUCH FOR MY HAPPY ENDING!" All the girls sang along, dancing crazily all over the living room, not noticing the windows that were thrown open, nor the boys across the street that were now outside and watching them.

The song ended and the girls all giggled, and then screamed in surprise as Green Day's American Idiot came one, and Aimee realized that she must have put in her mixed CD instead of Avril's. "DON'T WANNA BE AN AMERCIAN IDIOT!" They all screamed, dancing everywhere, two pairs dancing on their own and then a group of three.

Somewhere in the middle of the song, Aimee noticed the window open and the boys watching. She called them silently over and then continued to dance her way over to the door to let them in. Instantly, all the girls screamed again and paired off with the boys, and some truly dirty dancing began with some of them, while others, such as Elisa and Zero, were more watching everyone else.

Squid began dancing with Aimee just as the song ended, but then Holiday came on, and everything started again. Armpit yelled "Switch partners!" and everything changed, as Aimee was passed to Zigzag and Krystle got Squid, everything changing except Elisa and Zero, who ended up sitting on the couch and talking quietly.

After Holiday came Boulevard of Broken Dreams, and then Simple Plan's Shut Up, Welcome to my Life, I'm Just a Kid, Addicted, and then slower songs came on, throwing them all off: Untitled by Simple Plan, We Belong Together by Mariah Carey, and then it seemed like Kelly Clarkson's entire CD came on, starting with Aimee's favorite song, Behind These Hazel Eyes.

About an hour and a half later, everyone was so tired they fell onto the couches and chairs, breathing deeply and laughing. Amazing, nothing had gotten broken, for which Aimee was glad, as the house was new.

She was sitting with Zigzag, who had been her partner for most of the dancing, except for a few songs in which Squid stole her from him. He had his arm around her, and just about everybody noticed Squid glaring at him.

X-Ray shook his head at Squid and looked towards Aimee. "Hey, Angel, when are we going shopping?"

Aimee looked around, confused. Nobody's name was Angel… "Uhm…X-Ray…nobody's name is Angel."

"Yes it is. It's your name, Angel. Your nickname." X-Ray said, smiling at her.

"Oh. Right. I knew that. Uhm…girlies! We're goin shoppin with the boys, sound good?"Angel asked, looking around at all the girls.

"Yeah, sounds good." They all said, their faces still flushed from all the dancing.

Aimee felt proud: she was the first of the girls to get a nickname. She felt accepted by the boys already, which was definitely a good thing. "Hey boys, what school are you guys going to?"

"We're all going to Mountain Vista High. You guys?" Zigzag answered her, looking down at her with a small smile.

"So are we! Well, I mean, I am, Ashley, Elisa, and Thuy are, and we're all going to be freshmen. Lemo, 'Mella, and Krystle are eighth graders at Rocky Desert High." Angel responded.

The boys, looking surprised, looked at Lemo, Kemella, and Krystle. "You guys are younger than everyone else?"

"Yeah, we are. Kemella's the youngest, though." Lemo answered from in between Magnet and X-Ray.

The phone in Angel's kitchen started to ring, and she groaned as she got up to answer it, losing her spot next to Zigzag, probably. She walked in there and picked it up, looking at the number.

"Oh shit! SOMEONE ANSWER THE PHONE FOR ME!" She shrieked, running back into the living room and throwing the phone at Ashley before dropping back down next to Zigzag.

Ashley, sitting basically on Caveman's lap in the big chair, looked at the Caller ID as the phone continued to ring. She raised her eyebrows and clicked the "Talk" button, bringing the phone to her ear. "Hello?"

"Hey…can I talk to Aimee?" The person on the other line was a boy, it sounded like.

"May I ask who is speaking?" Ashley asked, checking out her nails in the meantime.

"Uhm…this is Josh…her…boyfriend."

"I'm sorry, Aimee doesn't have a boyfriend. You must have called the wrong house."

"Yes she does! She does have a boyfriend! Me!"

"Look, Joshua, this is Ashley, her best friend. I know when she has a boyfriend. And she definitely doesn't have one. And even if she did, it definitely wouldn't be you."

"Oh. Well…can I still talk to her? Please, Ash?"

Ashley looked up at Aimee, who was shaking her head. "Nope, you can't. Now I suggest you stop calling before I get my uncle, who's a cop, on your ass. We can probably nail you for stalking her. So stop calling." She said before hanging up and rolling her eyes. "Will that boy ever learn?"

"Probably not. Thanks, Ash." Aimee said, taking the phone from her best friend.

"Who was that?" Magnet asked one of the girls.

"Our ex-boyfriend. See, Aim here went out with him for almost two months before he dumped her. Next day, he asked me out. Well, I, for some reason, said yes. After school, I called Aim and told her, and she hung up on me. Well, Lemo talked some sense in to her, but I guess before that she hadn't stopped crying over the news. Friday morning at school, Aimee and I got into this huge fight in front of everyone, and I ended up going over to Josh and yelling at him, breaking up with him. But he and I passed notes all day, and Aimee here was sitting right next to me when I was reading one of them. He said 'I love you' at the end of it. She was so hurt she was big time depressed until graduation. Two days after graduation she got back together with him. After a lot of…err…fooling around, Aimee dumped him. That was last month." Ash told the story, cutting most things out.

Aimee found herself angry, with tears ready to spill at hearing the entire story all over again. It had been a while since she had heard it all together, and now it made her so angry she wanted to kill Josh. Next to her, Zigzag put his arm around her once more and gave her a hug. She returned the hug, glad that a guy had understood other than her friends she had known longer.

"That's fucked up." Armpit commented, making Aimee, and everyone else, grin. It was true, it had been fucked up.

"Yeah, well, it's in the past. Now, he's nothing except a loser! Now, enough of story time! Let's go shoppin'!" Aimee said as everyone jumped up, and the girls rushed upstairs to grab their purses or wallets. They rushed back down and grabbed a boy's arm, leading him out the door and into the light.

They reached the mall on foot fifteen minutes later. They walked in, and were about to split before Angel stopped them. "Wait! Okay. Let's meet for lunch at…Applebee's, across the street, at…let's say three, sound good?"

"Yeah!" Everyone said in response, and in their groups, some only in couples and some with other couples, they split off.

Zigzag was with Angel, and the two set off, arm in arm, towards Forever 21 and Macy's. Zigzag was about to protest going in to either of them, but Angel gave him her puppy eyes and he let her drag him everywhere.

By three o'clock, Angel had an armful of bags and Zigzag had himself two bags, but was also carrying some of hers. They walked across the street to Applebee's to see that they were the last ones there, and it seemed as if everybody was carrying at least one bag.

"Awesome! Did you guys already put in our name?" Angel asked, looking around at everybody. It seemed as if she got the most stuff.

"Yeah, we did." X-Ray smirked as he looked towards the lady.

"Angel, party of fourteen! Angel, party of fourteen!" The lady behind the microphone said, gathering menus.

"Oh, you're very funny." Angel said as she passed, smacking X-Ray lightly on the way.

They were seated in the back of the restaurant, around a circled table in a random order, though all the couples were seated together: X-Ray, Kemella, Armpit, Thuy, Krystle, Squid, Angel, Zigzag, Lemo, Magnet, Ashley, Caveman, Elisa, and Zero at the end.

Angel was in between Squid and Zigzag, but her friends were on either side of the boys and across from her as well. Eventually the talk started, making all of them laugh and giggle at some of the responses. Within minutes, the waitress came to take their orders for drinks, and a few minutes after, everybody ordered what they wanted.

"You know what sucks?" Ashley asked, taking a sip of her Lemonade.

"What?" Kemella asked from the other side of the table.

"We all have to go home today. We can't stay the night at Angel's again."

A few groans of disapproval went across the girls, and the boys nodded along too.

"Yeah, we can't stay at Caveman's again tonight either."

"Well, everyone's got everyone's screen names, right?" Angel asked, thinking that later on they could stay in touch while they weren't together, as it seemed like a new group was being made.

"We'll have to give the boys ours." Thuy said, nodding slightly.

After that, they all broke into their own conversations. The food came and talk went around the table, as they laughed and joked and talked as if they'd known each other forever. After lunch came dessert, though some were too full to get it.

Angel, however, ordered Sizzling Apple Pie, and when it came her eyes were huge, as were everyone else's. She loved this, the smell and the taste of it. She grabbed a spoon and dug in, handing a spoon to Zigzag as well, telling him to help her along. They all laughed as the two finished for some reason, then paid the bill. The girls had wanted to just ditch but for some reason the boys weren't all that in to it, so the guys got together the money to pay for everyone's lunch.

After they walked out of the restaurant, the group split, the boys walking the girls to their individual houses, as they said they'd get their stuff later.

Squid walked Krystle toward her house, the two of them walking slowly. He couldn't seem to take his mind off of Angel and the fact that she was with Zigzag. Krystle stared at him, wondering what was up.

"You like Aimee, don't you?" She finally asked after five slow minutes of walking.

"Why do you say that?" He asked in response to her question.

"It's obvious…you can't seem to take your eyes off of her."

Squid smiled to himself, looking over at the girl he was walking home. "Yeah, I guess I do like her. She's very pretty."

Krystle shook her head, looking where they were walking. "She's awesome, Squid. She really is. She cares so much for other people, she'd put complete strangers' lives in front of her own. People say that she takes things too seriously, but that's just how she is. She's got a huge secret, you know. That's how she was raised. She doesn't expect people to play jokes on her or lie to her. She believes everything they tell her. But she just needs someone to understand her like Lemo does. Lemo is the only one who knows her secret other than Josh. Not even Ashley knows it. Only Lemo. Only Lemo seems to understand her, too…Josh never did. He was too…different. But she needs someone that can love her like a man loves a woman, not how friends love each other, but she needs that too."

Squid seemed surprised at what Krystle said, but for some reason he managed to believe all of it. Something told him that what she said was true.

"It seems like she likes Zigzag." He said quietly, feeling that he could open up to this girl.

"Never believe what it seems like with her. She keeps her real feelings inside, she never tells anyone anything other than Lemo and sometimes Ashley. You never know." Krystle responded, shaking her head. She wasn't too sure who it was that Angel liked, but she wasn't really one to know the girl that well, though she had known her long before the others had.

"Huh." Squid said, thinking silently. What if she did like him, but he wouldn't ask her out because he thought she liked Zigzag and not him? It'd suck for both of them. But they had all summer, even though it was already the middle of July, and all the school year after that.

"Well, this is it. Thanks for walking me home, Squid." Krystle said, hugging him through their bags.

"No problem, Krystle. You're an awesome friend." Squid said with a grin, waving until she got inside her house before turning around and heading towards his home.

_Meanwhile…_

"You know, I think Squid likes you." Zigzag said, kicking a pebble as he walked Angel home.

"You think?" Angel asked with a bored tone of voice, as her insides were very, very confused. She liked Zigzag, but something about Squid caught her eye, something inside, like a spark or something.

"Yeah, I do." He said, looking over to see her. "Who do you like?"

"I-I don't know. I kind of like this other guy, but something in Squid is like…drawing me to him, you know? Like a flame, or a spark. Something. I can't explain it." She admitted, looking ahead of her. Her house was coming closer and closer, as much as she didn't want it to. And then Zigzag would have to go home…that sucked.

Zigzag grinned, getting the feeling that he knew who the other guy was. But he knew that the other guy wouldn't do well for her, even only after a day of hanging out with her. "You know, I think Squid would be better for you than any of the other guys."

Angel looked alarmed, wondering what he was talking about. "Why do you say that?"

"He's different. He has a way of bringing people's best qualities out of their personalities. He can be a bully sometimes when you first meet him, but on the inside he's nice and caring. And from what I know of you, which really isn't much at all, you need someone like that." Zigzag said, nodding as they reached her house. "Well, I guess this is it. I'll Instant Message you later, okay Angel?"

Aimee nodded, still thinking what he said through, barely noticing as Zigzag kissed her cheek. She smiled though and hugged him before letting herself inside with her half a million bags and purse.

After she took a shower and got into her pajamas, she was laying on her bed, on her laptop, when a message came up from another person not on her buddy list.

Them: Angel

Angel: Who is this?

Them: It's Squid

Angel: Oh hey

Squid: Hey

Angel: How are you?

Squid: Fine

Squid: You

Angel: Fine. Kinda tired tho

Squid: Yeah me too

Angel: so what's up?

Squid: nothing much

Squid: you

Angel: nothing just really bored

Squid: me too

Squid: hey what are you doing tomorrow

Angel: I duno…nothing, I don't think

Squid: Would you like to come with me up on this trip? My mom is taking me up into these mountains, the ones you can probably see from your house. Hiking and stuff.

Angel: I'll have to ask, but it sounds like fun.

Squid: Yeah, she's bringing her new boyfriend and I didn't want to be stuck all by myself

Angel: Okay, well brb I'll go ask

Squid: Ok

Angel: my dad says it's fine, he's just gotta meet your mom first

Angel: is that okay?

Squid: Yeah. We'll be at your house at about nine tomorrow morning, is that okay?

Angel: Yeah that's fine.

Squid: okay, well see you tomorrow, I gotta go

Angel: okay bye

Squid: bye

Angel smiled and shook her head, thinking that this was most likely going to be called a date. She got back on her computer and invited all her friends, including X-Ray, Armpit, Zigzag, Magnet, Caveman, and Zero, and then the girls, into a chat room so they could all talk together.

Angel: Well guys guess what

Ashley: omg what happened?

Lemo: SPILL GIRLIE!

Elisa: whats up, angel?

Angel: Squid just asked me out on a trip..kinda like a date..tomorrow!

X-Ray: oh my god he did?

Armpit: well that was unexpected

Zigzag: I told you, didn't I ang?

Krystle: hahaha I knew he was going to

Thuy: how'd you guys know?

Kemella: well it was kind of obvious

Krystle: yeah it's not like he wasn't staring at her the entire day

Elisa: he was?

Krystle: yeah I was with him at the mall and every time we seen her and zigzag together he'd get all mad and want to follow them

Zigzag: he did?

Krystle: yep

X-Ray: sounds like squid's got himself a girl

Magnet: no, he's got himself a _chica_

Angel: I am not squid's girl

Angel: or his chica

X-Ray: well whatever

X-Ray: I gotta go

Elisa: yeah I gotta go too my bro's about to kill me for the comp

Ashley: me too bye everyone

Thuy: I gotta get up early too bye everyone

Armpit: well I'll follow them so talk to everyone tomorrow

Magnet: me too see ya

Krystle: see ya! Me too!

Kemella: my mom's not home yet but I gotta go too

Caveman: see ya I'm goin too

Zero: me too. Bye

Lemo: omg me too my mom's kickin me off bye

Zigzag: Bye

Angel: bye everyone

Zigzag: well it's just you and me now

Angel: yep

Zigzag: so when did he ask you

Angel: he messaged me a few minutes ago.

Zigzag: and you said yes

Angel: yea..you basically told me to!

Zigzag: yeah I know

Zigzag: but still

Angel: but still what?

Zigzag: I kind of like you too

Angel: well then why did you tell me to go with him?

Zigzag: because it's the truth

Zigzag: plus I think I like someone else more

Angel: who?

Zigzag: don't tell anybody

Angel: I wont

Zigzag: I like Lemo

Angel: you do?

Zigzag: Yeah

Angel: huh

Zigzag: well yeah

Angel: I can set you guys up

Zigzag: you can?

Angel: yeah. I'll see tomorrow since she's off already

Zigzag: ok thanks angel

Angel: no prob

Zigzag: well I gotta go

Angel: okay ttyl

Zigzag: ttyl

Angel sighed, shaking her head while smiling. She shut down her computer and put it away, then went downstairs into the dark and got a bottle of water before going back upstairs. She snuggled deep into her covers, closing her eyes and hugging her Care Bear tightly as she fell asleep, waiting for tomorrow.


End file.
